Can for bakery or similar products.



No. 714,393. Patented Nov. '25, I902.

M. J. NASH. CAN FOR BAKERY 0R SIMILAR PRODUCTS.

(Application filed July 5, 1902.) (No Model I a simple glance at the glass front.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MICHAEL J. NASH, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY, OF JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, ANT) CHICAGO,

ILLINOIS, CORPORATION OF NEW- JERSEY.

. CAN FOR BAKERY OR SIMILAR PRODUCTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 714,393, dated November 25, 1902.

Application filed July 5, 1902. Serial No. 114,480. (No modelJ To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, MICHAEL J. NASH, a citizen of the United States, residing at the city of St. Louis, in the State of Missouri, have "invented certain new and useful Improvements in Cans for Bakery and Similar Products, of which the following is a specification.

Crackers, biscuit, fancy cakes, and other similar bakery products have heretofore been sold to the retail trade in rectangular tin boxes containing a hinged cover, a glass front,

i same goods neatly packed in the narrow space between the glass front and the slide, the object-of this being to give the can the appearance at all times of being full and also to make known the character of the contents by Heretofore these slides have been made of tin,'and experience has shown that in a great majority of instances where goods are sold to the retail trade in such cans, which cans are returnable when empty to the baker, the tin slides are usually removed by the persons to whom these returnable cans are delivered and are used for other purposes, thus entailing a very considerable loss upon the owner of the cans.

The principal object of my invention is to equip a can of this character with a removable slide which shall possess every advanor'beyond its special function in connection with the can, thus removing the temptation on the part of the users of the can to abstract the slide for other purposes.

To these and other ends my invention resides, primarily, in a novel material and construction of removable slide for cans an boxes of the character specified.

My invention further consists in a can or box of this character in combination with my new and improved slide and means whereby the latter may be efiiciently held therein with capacity for ready insertion and withdrawal.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein- Figure 1 is a perspective view of a tin can or box embodying my invention, the same being shown as closed and having its false front filled with display goods. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the front portion of the can. with the cover removed, illustrating the false front and the slide and its retaining means whereby the false front is created. Fig. 3 is a front elevational view of the slide withdrawn from the can. Fig. at is an edge view of the same; and Fig. 5 is an enlarged detail perspective view of the upperleft-hand corner of the slide, illustrating the manner in which the tin binding is attached and secured to the pasteboard body of the slide.

Referring to the drawings, 6 designates as an entirety a rectangular tin can or box of the variety wherein crackers, cakes, and other bakery products are ordinarily sold by the manufacturers to the retail dealers, these being ordinarily the property of the baker or manufacturer and returnable to him when empty. The can isprovided with a hinged cover or top 7, provided with a latch 8, and the front wall of the can usually has either a solid glass front or is provided with a sizable aperture, such as the circular opening herein shown at 9, which is backed by a glass or other transparent closure 10, Fig. 2.

A slight distance, usually about one and one-half inches, in rear of the glass front 10 and parallel therewith is provided a removable slide, (designated in Fig. 2 as an entirety by 11.) This slide has heretofore consisted usually of a simple rectangular sheet of tin, the side edges of which have engaged retaining devices or guides on the inner faces of the side walls of the can. In view of the fact that the gist of my present invention resides in the materials and construction of this slide I will describe the same with some particularity.

In carrying out my invention I take a piece of heavy pasteboard or board made from wood-pulp or other similar flexible material and out the same to a Width slightly less than the width of the can and to a height slightly greater than the height of the can. This board constitutes the body of the slide and is designated in Figs. 3 to 5 by the numeral 11*. I then bend over the upper and lower margins of this board, as indicated at 11 in Fig. 5, so that said margins lie parallel with the main body of the board. I then take a strip of tin or other readily-pliable sheet metal 12, bending the same longitudinally thereof along two lines, thus forming two overlying parallel sides 12 and 12 and an inwardly-extending marginal flange 12, which lies between the inner portions of the side walls 12 and 12 of the binding-strip. This binding-strip thus formed is applied to both the top and bottom margins of the slide, and in applying the same the flange 12 engages behind the lower portion of the inwardly-bent marginal portion 11 of the pasteboard slidebody, while the exposed side walls 12 and 12 of the binding-strip respectively overlie and engage the outer faces of the marginal portion 11 and the adjacent upper and lower portions of the slide-body. When the parts are engaged in the manner described, they are very securely united by simply pressing together the two sides of the tin bindingstrip.

To the inner side walls of the can are secured at the proper distance from the front wall vertical grooved guides or slideways 13, each of which may conveniently be formed by bending a strip of tin centrally lengthwise into U shape and soldering or otherwise attaching the same to the inner face of the side wall of the can. These guides are of a width sufficient to receive the end portions of the binding-strips 12, as Well as the side portions of the body 11 of the slide. The

slide is inserted in these vertical guides with its unbound side margins and the end portions of its bound margins engaged thereby, while its top and bottom margins are stiffened by the binding-strips 12, already described, and it will thus be seen that when the slide is in place it is, in effect, provided with a metallic binding on all foursides thereof, thus lending to the same the required degree of rigidity to form the back wall of the false front 14, within which the crackers or other goods (indicated at 15) are placed for display through the glass front 10.

A mere rectangular sheet of pasteboard or the like would hardly of itself possess the necessary strength and rigidity to serve satisfactorily in the situation described,although in the case of a can containing very light goods it might answer; but by providing the same with a cheap form of stifiening in the nature of a sheet-metal binding I render the same an entirely efficient and highly economical substitute for the solid tin slides heretofore used.

Although I have described my preferred manner of applying the sheet-metal binding to the top and bottom margins of the slide, yet my invention is not limited, except to the extent hereinafter indicated in the claims, to the means and manner herein shown of securing said binding to the slide.

I claim 1. A slide for cans of the character described, comprising a rectangular sheet of heavy pasteboard or the like, and having its upper and lower margins bent inwardly, and longitudinally-folded sheet-metal bindingstrips interlocked with said inwardly-bent margins of the slide, substantially as described.

2. The combination with a can of the character described, provided with vertical slides on the inner surfaces of its side walls near the front of the box, of a slide therefor comprising a rectangular sheet of heavy pasteboard or the like adapted to engage said guides along its side margins and having its top and bottom margins provided with sheetmetal binding-strips secured thereto, substantially as described.

MICHAEL J. NASH.

Witnesses:

W. B. HOUSTON, EDWARD FITZGERALD. 

